Silver Peak is the top of Blackhawk Mountain on the eastern side of the San Bernardino’s. This hike was more of a desert hike and much more like the typical Desert Divide hiking area. Dorie and I explored some of the mines and mining equipment along the trail. We did discover a very large mine that was completely accessible. I had my headlight and went in. Dorie went in a few feet, but I must have gone in 300 feet and still did not see the end. No bats either. The hiking trail above the mine was a very steep, rocky gully to climb for the summit ridge. On the summit, there was another mine opening, but the entrance was a little to seep to enter without ropes. I wondered if it connected to the mine we explored below, because while in that mine I did not notice any stuffiness or lack of air circulation. Next time we’ll go farther and see. The climb down the rocky gully was fun because there was an old cable that I used to rappel back down. Fun little 3.5 mile, 1,050 vertical hike. (Please click on any picture to enlarge to see slide show)
